Found Deceased CA - Kiely Rodni missing from Party Near Prosser Family Campground in Truckee #7

[RedHaus]

Wasn't Kiely pretty tall, like 5'7"? I just can't see her fitting in the cargo space unless the seats were down, which they weren't. Was she scrunched up back there? Was her shoe all the way up against the smallest back driver's side window? Sus IMO

RSBM
Agree with the tight fit to get from the front seat to the back cargo area in a 2013 Honda CRV. But perhaps possible between the two rear head rests as the car went down front first and flipped onto its roof?

New Honda CR-V 2013 interior pictures

New Honda CR-V 2013 dashboard New Honda CR-V 2013 interiors New Honda CR-V 2013 steering wheel New Honda CR-V 2013 boot sp...

www.automobileplanet.com

ET: fix typo

 

[LaborDayRN]

Unless they hit their head on the windshield or something and was out like a light.

True. But I was responding to a post that referenced foul play being suspected because she was not buckled in. My thoughts are that it would not be unusual for someone to unbuckle once they hit the water to try to escape. IMO being unbuckled in and of itself isn't evidence of foul play.

 

[Gemmie]

Hold on.

Go to 44:06 in the AWP video. Am I not correct that the female sheriff has put her hands through a totally lowered driver's side window as she helps push or steer the car?

It looks closed to me when the diver has gone around to look through the driver's side window. He also did not say "the window is down" at this point which he would have since he was assessing the damage as he found it to relay to LE (and for the vidoe). And about 36:29 it looks like a window to me with stuff on it from being in the water. Algea? Mud? Not sure, but I see a solid surface there through my eyes. At 36:33 the window looks really dirty from time in the water. Then he moved to the back and it was REAL obvious that it was halfway down. At 36:58 you can see the difference between open window space, and what the dirtied half-down window looks like. Seeing that half open window makes me very sure of what I saw with the driver's side window and it looks completely muddy (hence all there). It broke during the recovery somehow.

All MOO.

 

[Sundog]

My 2016 Honda CRV starts and drives without the seat belts being buckled. On both the driver and passenger side.

 

[Beekarina]

The windows make me crazy/doubt myself.

I hate revisiting the NY Post article, but if you go there and crop the DRIVER'S window, I'm reasonably certain there are shards of glass in a few of the corners.

When you do the same for the AWP dive videos, where Diver Nick explains his orientation, you have a CLOSED, INTACT driver's window, and a partially rolled down--i.e. to child safety limits--rear driver's side window, and a front passenger window where no glass is present. Diver Nick states the "passenger window is broken out", but later uses slightly different language, saying it was down. Unclear if he saw glass or something inside the vehicle.

Both front side mirrors look intact/normal when Diver Nick is in the water with Kiely's CRV.

There also appears to be kind of wire thing inside the driver's side front window, near the now twisted driver's side mirror. Does anyone know what that is used for? Maybe something LE used in turning her vehicle?

 

[Beekarina]

Forgive me if this seems insensitive, but if you flip the image, there does seem to be room/a different perspective if a vehicle was upside down. I was having a really difficult time imaging how anyone would slip through to the cargo area too.

I think possible?

 

[Beekarina]

The more I look at the upside down image I just shared, and the windows that were out when Diver Nick was underwater, the worse I feel about where she was found.

 

[Sundog]

RSBM
Agreed with the tight fit to get from the front seat to the back cargo area in a 2013 Honda CRV. But perhaps possible between the two rear head rests as the car went down front first and flipped onto its roof?

View attachment 363689

New Honda CR-V 2013 interior pictures

New Honda CR-V 2013 dashboard New Honda CR-V 2013 interiors New Honda CR-V 2013 steering wheel New Honda CR-V 2013 boot sp...

www.automobileplanet.com

I just did an experiment with my 2016 Honda CRV. I experimented with how easy or difficult it would be to climb over the back seat and go into the cargo area, and to see how much space there would be once in the cargo area and crouched down to try to open the rear hatch from inside.

First, I could climb through the two rear headrests, and I measured the distance between them, at approximately 19.5 inches. But if Kiely used the back seats regularly with a lot of friends in the car, the middle head rest may have been up (in the picture above, the middle rear seat head rest is down), and in that case, it wouldn't have been easy to climb into the cargo area. And the mechanism to lower the middle headrest would be hard to figure out during a crisis like a car being submerged in water.

Second, seated in the cargo area, my head touched the roof of the car. I am 5'2" tall, so Kiely would have had to really crunch down in the back to fit, if she really tried to take refuge in the cargo area while the car was sinking nose first.

Finally, I don't think a body would float very far if the car flipped and a person was trapped in the cargo area. I think the body would be wedged in, so to speak, and the likelihood of a body floating out of that area seems unlikely to me in this small, tight space, with headrests blocking the path a body might naturally take to float out of this area.

Not sure if I have described this well so that people can understand.


EBM Slight edits for clarification

 

[PhoneJockey]

Forgive me if this seems insensitive, but if you flip the image, there does seem to be room/a different perspective if a vehicle was upside down. I was having a really difficult time imaging how anyone would slip through to the cargo area too.

I think possible?View attachment 363695

I did this same thing. First i rotated it to be nose down, as it would be the first major "flip" - water would be pouring in the front passenger window (if it was down like it was in the recovery video) as she tried to climb to the back, where she would find more water pouring in on the driver's side back seat window - so water coming at her from both sides as she climbs to the back. She could've gotten her face/head/upper body into the cargo area before/during/after the car turtles, trying to keep out of the water - maybe she thought she could pop the back hatch? Didn't someone say her car would have a button in the back to open it?

Anyway, i definitely feel like she very well could have moved herself from the driver's seat to where she was located finally.
This would also explain why the Diver Nick said he could see shoes from the side windows, but didn't actually see visible body parts until he got to the back window and wiped it off - maybe only her upper body was in the back and her torso/legs were sticking out towards the front.

Just me speculating!

 

[Sundog]

The more I look at the upside down image I just shared, and the windows that were out when Diver Nick was underwater, the worse I feel about where she was found.

If water was rushing in the open windows, she may have tried to get into the cargo area that was not yet filled with water if the vehicle was sinking nose first. I think, sadly, that this is a possible scenario.

Edited speculation that, on second thought, didn't make sense

 

[RedHaus]

The more I look at the upside down image I just shared, and the windows that were out when Diver Nick was underwater, the worse I feel about where she was found.

Yah, I get a sad, sinking feeling too.

I liked your idea of flipping the image I posted, so here is a three-way view, FWIW.

Source: New Honda CR-V 2013 interior pictures

 

[annpats]

We know where Kiely was when AWP found her--in the cargo are of her SUV. So prior to law enforcement flipping her car over.

We do NOT know where Kiely was when her SUV entered the water and flipped on its roof. She may have been driving, a passenger in any seat, or as awful as it is to type, in the cargo rear.

I would probably guess in the cargo area when she entered the water too!

I think it's pretty impossible she would have gone under 2 sets of headrests from front to back. (Under because her car was upside down.)

Also any gas/air in her body (abdomen, intestines etc.) would still be in her body once she passed and would've made made her body a little buoyant. Not floaty, but certainly not able to just go along under the headrests.

It's too narrow a gap between the top of the headrests and the roof of the car.
I think only a very small child would be able to do that.

MOO.

 

[Sundog]

If she was conscious as the car was tipping nose first, then she could have easily climbed over the seats and headrests to get into the cargo area where there was still air as the car filled with water. I posted above that there is about 19.5 inches between the two rear headrests, and I easily climbed over them. The front headrests have more distance between them, of course, with the individual bucket seats in the front of the car. So I think this scenario is very likely.

 

[annpats]

Forgive me if this seems insensitive, but if you flip the image, there does seem to be room/a different perspective if a vehicle was upside down. I was having a really difficult time imaging how anyone would slip through to the cargo area too.

I think possible?View attachment 363695

No, I don't think so. In my opinion, I don't think it would be possible. Not in the dark, sinking in a lake, in a panic, with alcohol/drugs in her system.

The car was also probably starting to go nose down within a few seconds of hitting the lake, so that would made it near impossible I think.

....and surely if a window was open, it would've been easier to go through that?

MOO.

 

[Gemmie]

The windows make me crazy/doubt myself.

I hate revisiting the NY Post article, but if you go there and crop the DRIVER'S window, I'm reasonably certain there are shards of glass in a few of the corners.

When you do the same for the AWP dive videos, where Diver Nick explains his orientation, you have a CLOSED, INTACT driver's window, and a partially rolled down--i.e. to child safety limits--rear driver's side window, and a front passenger window where no glass is present. Diver Nick states the "passenger window is broken out", but later uses slightly different language, saying it was down. Unclear if he saw glass or something inside the vehicle.

Both front side mirrors look intact/normal when Diver Nick is in the water with Kiely's CRV.

There also appears to be kind of wire thing inside the driver's side front window, near the now twisted driver's side mirror. Does anyone know what that is used for? Maybe something LE used in turning her vehicle?

The NYP's photo would not have show the window BEFORE LE pulled it out, they shot the photo AFTER it was pulled out. The window was broken in the process of retrieving it. I can't easily look for myself since no link to the article was in your post.

 

[Gemmie]

I just did an experiment with my 2016 Honda CRV. I experimented with how easy or difficult it would be to climb over the back seat and go into the cargo area, and to see how much space there would be once in the cargo area and crouched down to try to open the rear hatch from inside.

First, I could climb through the two rear headrests, and I measured the distance between them, at approximately 19.5 inches. But if Kiely used the back seats regularly with a lot of friends in the car, the middle head rest may have been up (in the picture above, the middle rear seat head rest is down), and in that case, it wouldn't have been easy to climb into the cargo area. And the mechanism to lower the middle headrest would be hard to figure out during a crisis like a car being submerged in water.

Second, seated in the cargo area, my head touched the roof of the car. I am 5'2" tall, so Kiely would have had to really crunch down in the back to fit, if she really tried to take refuge in the cargo area while the car was sinking nose first.

Finally, I don't think a body would float very far if the car flipped and a person was trapped in the cargo area. I think the body would be wedged in, so to speak, and the likelihood of a body floating out of that area seems unlikely to me in this small, tight space, with headrests blocking the path a body might naturally take to float out of this area.

Not sure if I have described this well so that people can understand.


EBM Slight edits for clarification

LOVE it!!! Thank you for doing that. lol

 

[PhoneJockey]

I would probably guess in the cargo area when she entered the water too!

I think it's pretty impossible she would have gone under 2 sets of headrests from front to back. (Under because her car was upside down.)

Also any gas/air in her body (abdomen, intestines etc.) would still be in her body once she passed and would've made made her body a little buoyant. Not floaty, but certainly not able to just go along under the headrests.

It's too narrow a gap between the top of the headrests and the roof of the car.
I think only a very small child would be able to do that.

MOO.

Kiely is very thin - I'm only 5'5" and when i weighed 135 I could fit myself into very tiny areas and even wore some clothes in childrens sizes. Kiely is 2" taller than me and weighs 15lbs less - so she would have been even thinner than i was and likely able to fit into very small spaces the way i could.
I'm just guessing based on my personal experience!

 

[Gemmie]

Yah, I get a sad, sinking feeling too.

I liked your idea of flipping the image I posted, so here is a three-way view, FWIW.

Source: New Honda CR-V 2013 interior pictures

Ugh at 'sinking'. That made me cringe.

 

[RedHaus]

If she was conscious as the car was tipping nose first, then she could have easily climbed over the seats and headrests to get into the cargo area where there was still air as the car filled with water. I posted above that there is about 19.5 inches between the two rear headrests, and I easily climbed over them. The front headrests have more distance between them, of course, with the individual bucket seats in the front of the car. So I think this scenario is very likely.

Although @Sundog, from your excellent experiment ^^^, we don't know if the middle rear seat headrest was up or not in KR's car when it went into the water. If the rear headrest was up, per your research it sounds like it would be near impossible for someone alive or dead to get into the hatch area from the front or back seats of the car.

 

[Gemmie]

Kiely is very thin - I'm only 5'5" and when i weighed 135 I could fit myself into very tiny areas and even wore some clothes in childrens sizes. Kiely is 2" taller than me and weighs 15lbs less - so she would have been even thinner than i was and likely able to fit into very small spaces the way i could.
I'm just guessing based on my personal experience!

I agree. I think it's more possible she climbed or floated back there than that she was put there.

I'm a few inches shorter and when I was a kid everyone loved hiding me before they ran off and hid when we played hide and seek in the house. I could fit in places no one would consider looking in due to how small they were.